Pre-Race Anxiety
by Hero DarkyDark
Summary: Melissa X Pony AU Fic, In a world where certain Mutation-Variant Quirks race against each other. Melissa a Jockey who's training her current partner Pony, must combine their skills in order to win many races against other competitors. But what happens when Melissa starts feeling a sense of doubt about her equipment inventing skills being inferior to others.


**_A/N:_ Hey peeps, hope you enjoy this Fic Trade I'm doing with The Writer of Awkward Energy, QuirkQuartz! He decided to be a total monster and had me ship MelissaXPony, I DIDN'T EVEN WATCH THE MOVIE SHE WAS FROM! But no worries, I got him back with my own mad lad ship. Anyways enjoy~**

**Pre-Race Anxiety**

"Melissa~," A soft silvery voice called out.

No response...the voice called out again, "Meli~ssa!"

This time there was a response, a short quick groan echoed throughout a dark room.

The first voice cheered "Oh good you're finally awake."

"Mm, what is it?" Groaned a tired Melissa.

"It's morning, we need to do my morning run!" Pony tells her, skipping away from the bed to the wall in the room closest to the door.

"Can you wait a moment Pony, I didn't hear an alarm." Melissa tells her, rumbling a bit under the bed sheets "Give it...I don't know a couple more hours."

"You forgot, this isn't just any morning! Today is the day of the big race!" Pony happily exclaim, flipping a switch on the wall to fill the room with blinding light "Meaning we gotta do our pre-race routine this morning!"

A glow rained down over the apartment room, making it a lot easier to view the sorry-state of a room the two was in. The four pasty white walls that bordered up the room were all darken to a more messy cinder color, it wasn't as if anyone would notice, they'll be too distracted by all the cracks and holes on there to see the distortion. Not even the floor was clean as it was littered with multiple half constructed projects Melissa was working on but never finish. The only adequate looking section of the entire room was the kitchen Melissa made herself at the far right corner of the room and the two surprising unharmed doors.

The first one was on the wall opposite of where their bed was, on the left side of the kitchen the door lead out of the room into the hallway. The other door which lead to the room's bathroom was located on the wall left of the bed. Both were crafted with marvelous wood that seemed above the standard quality than the rest of the room, that'll happen when one of the residents have a knack of getting too excited at times.

The emitting light drew nothing but aggravation from the sleepy blonde, retracking herself under the sheets to use as cover. She knew this was necessary, the morning routine was one of the most vital parts of the duo's performance, but trapped in the grasp of morning amnesia that fact didn't cross her mind.

She didn't need training, she needed sleep.

"Come on, we're going to be behind schedule," The more escentric blonde reminded her.

There was no response.

Pony puffed out her cheeks, "Melissa~!" She whined

It was no use, Melissa had bunker down and wasn't going to move on her own. With no other choice Pony knew what had to be done, with a scheming smirk she charge toward bed. With a heavy stomp she jumped high into the air, flying halfway across the room she yelling something that'll soon haunt Melissa, "Pony bomb!"...

…

…After such a violent awakening the blonde duo had left their 'cozy' apartment, going out in the chilly wind to the public track field. Resting against the steel railings that separated the stands from the running track, Melissa was duo tasking between working on one of her projects in her hand and monitoring Pony as she ran the on track with an unusual amount of gear on her.

"Melissa how much longer do I have to wear this?" Pony whined, she had just completed her 20th lap. While for most racers a simple 20 laps wouldn't be enough to make one beg to stop, in fact Pony was usually the one to beg for more laps only to be stopped so she won't over exhaust herself. The only issue was that Pony wasn't in her usually running clothes, she was in a very unnecessary winter coat, sweatpants, and thick socks.

"It's chilly outside." Melissa explains to her, not looking up at her, "I wouldn't want you to get cold."

"Then are the weights necessary?" Pony between a pant, pointing out the dumbbell tied to her arms, legs, thighs, biceps, and the almost fully packed backpack on her back.

Melissa continued to tighten the screws of her contraption, taking a moment to tell Pony, "Why of course, you're going to be carrying me in this race so you need to train with extra weight."

She wasn't wrong, this race is going to be a jockey race but besides the backpack Pony thought everything else was a little much. Her limbs was already feeling the burn and she already got a water break, usually it takes till at least her 35 laps before she started feeling any sense of fatigue.

"I get that but...how are winters clothes going to help me?" Pony muttered concerned, slowing down a bit, "I'm just not sure if this is very...safe."

"You're fi~ne. You're wearing sneakers." Melissa looked up from her little device to give her a little smirk, she was annoyed but she didn't want an accident. 'Though then again she is going to have to deal with other animal-like quirk users during the race, there's no telling what they may or their jockies will have in store for her.'

Pony ran another two laps before finally crying out "I'm sorry I used the Pony bomb!"

"Oh thank you, that means a lot." The older blonde tells her sweetly holding a hand to her chest "But you still got about 18 more laps before we can move on to the next training exercise."

"Melissy!" Pony cried out.

A sigh escaped Melissa, why did that nickname have to be said of all things. It was a weakness the older blonde had for her companion, it started out with her thinking Pony just misheard her name but soon it grew to be a cute little thing she does when she

'Oh well, guess my teasing gotta end here.' Melissa thought to herself, a smile plastered on her face, she calls out to Pony "Ok, ok that's enough. Come back for some water."

Deciding to take a quick break from her invention, Melissa set it in the box she brought to keep it safe. Taking out the water bottles from the box before closing it and getting them prepared once Pony finally gets to her. It was going to take a few minutes before she will come. Though Pony had a dying thirst not so much for water but to stop running, she will still finish the lap she started first. It was another admirable but noxious trait of hers, to always finish something first. At first the thought brought a nice smile, reminding her of the time she spent with her father. But like her childhood she knew that some things will end and one can't get too caught up with 'finishing it' the way they want or else you end up with a futile result.

'Some people are lucky wasted time is all they can afford.' Melissa thought to herself, taking a sip from her water bottle.

The clouds of an adolescent's mind cleared when Pony popped up behind Melissa, leaning against her back for support. She could feel the back of her shirt growing damp from younger blonde's body, she was sure sweating a lot that it was astonishing how long it took for her to beg for forgiveness.

Grabbing the second bottle Melissa kindly offered it to the exhausted female who gratefully accepts it but savagely chugs it down, spilling a fine amount over her own clothes.

"Are you good now?" Melissa asked, turning toward Pony. Taking a glance behind her she saw all the clothes and gear shattered across the grassy fields, it was as if Pony literally exploded out of them. Seeing all the stuff she was running in spread out the way it was, it gave her mixed emotions as to what to focus on. Either the fact that she made her wear all of it or that she lasted that long.

The horse looking girl let out an exhale of satisfaction as the once full bottle dropped to her side, now a hollow shell, "I'm doing great now!" She exclaimed happily, she spoke in such high spirits as if she could go another 20 laps.

Which they did,well not literally, more like casual jogging that they both did. While Pony's condition was the most important thing to take care of, Melissa also had to keep her own physique fit as well. It would be a travesty if they would ever lose a race cause of her own physical incapabilities.

This is just their usual three-part exercise before a race, first is reps for Pony to wake up her body, then joint jogging for the both of them, and finally a bit of jockey practice before resting their bodies.

They continue to jog, the exercise did relax her mind. When they had stopped by a water fountain for a quick drink, a human shadow appeared in front of the duo. The sharp shape around the head one can only assume is the hair brought a sense of familiarity.

'Oh no why her.' Melissa thought in her mind, her peace of mind was soon to disappear.

"Melissa! Hey I didn't expect to meet you two down here!" Mei Hatsume exclaimed happily as she rushed over to them "How ya doing, training hard for the big race right?" Her attention quickly switched to Pony, "I know how hard you've been working lately, I hope you got all your gear set!"

In all innocence of the mind, Pony made the grave mistake of stepping into the subtle verbal trap, she responded to Mei's talk of gear, "Well actually I don't ha-"

"You don't have any gear!?" Mei exclaimed with a very pretentious voice, that tone soon fade to one of complete passion once she presented her true intentions, "Oh well that just can't do, lucky for you I just so happen to have some of my _finest_ babies with me on this beautiful day!"

Melissa couldn't help but give a 'Oh god' eye roll as the pinkette enthusiastically reached behind herself to bring out what looked like a metal helmet.

"Introducing my Protective Headgear Assistant Model Capricorn, or you may call it P.H.A.M.C.!"

"Oooh~," Pony was immensely invested, mostly because of the fact that the arcraman name sounded interesting, "I didn't see that before, is it newly made? What does it do?"

"That baby was specially made to mimic the bone structure of a goat, this way you can ram into _nearly_ anything straight on and not suffer any trauma from it," As she explains this she promptly begins fitting her invention onto the young girl, "Oh look a perfect fit, it was as if you were just made to wear it!"

She continued to bring out gauntlet sized gloves and a belt that had an attached some kind of gun to it, "Then there's the Jet-Propelling gloves that'll increase your jumping power, and if those pesky flying type racers start to give you trouble, shoot'em down with Sky Striker. All this created of course by Mei's Extravagant Inventions Shop!"

The eccentric engineer could've probably gone on for another hour trying to shill and sell her…'babies' but Melissa had other plans to spend her day. Cutting her off she softly pulled Pony out of the grasp off the crafty saleswoman, politely taking off all the equipment that was being placed on her, "Sorry, but I'm afraid we forgot our wallets, so we can't purchase anything," she said, lead Pony away from the area. While Pony was slightly disappointed and confused, she went along with her companion.

Surprised, the determined Mei tried to convince them to reconsider, "B-but wait! Since these were freshly made this morning, I'm doing a special offer where you can make a down payment of less than 5%!"

"I said we forgot our wallet so we literally have no money, sorry."

"I even allow purchase through credit."

"We got bad credit."

"I have a low acceptance rate for credit!"

"It's so bad that our bank wouldn't let us use it to buy a $5 meal at McMight."

"I-I'll take a I.O.U."

"My father told me watch out for things that can be used later to bulge me down in debt."

"On a contract that I won't collect anything for a year, no two years!"

"I don't like making empty promises."

"It's free! Just let me stamp my companies brand on it!"

"We don't like taking handouts."

"But ...I uh….._sigh..._ok bye."

Out of options, Mei accepted defeat, letting the pair go on with their day.

…

The blonde duo had jog their way to an area deep in the forest, a secret spot they usually go to when they want to fully practice their jockey racing.

At first they started with just a few practice laps, making sure they're in sync while riding, and then a few serious takes which produced some excellent results. That was until Melissa decided to bust out some of her more recent inventions. At first it was testing out things like net bombs, bonding rope, a jetpack that only ended up causing more issues, and a pair of gauntlets.

"I don't think this is going to work out." Pony suggested as Melissa was putting on her own invention.

The blonde wasted no time assuring her companion, "Don't worry it'll be fine!"

Formulaic to say that things went wrong almost immediately as using the device while riding with very little practice was begging for an accident to happen. Which did happen and they were both sent flying into the mud below them. The wet gloopy concept of the earth covered both of them, dirting their clothes more than their sweat did, and soiling their pale skin with dirt.

Pony took this as any other wipeout they had that day or even in general across their many training days. Casually chuckles before wiping the mud away from her eyes, turning toward her friend to jokingly ask, "I was already a soaking bag of sweat before, so I guess this is a sign to finally take a bath right Melissa?"

Melissa didn't response. Instead she just sat in the pile of filth that surrounded her, she felt like this was a metaphor. These were things she's spent a couple of weeks on, Mei could probably create things like these in a day or at most 2, and if her dad was still around it'll only take a simple afternoon to get it done. Yet here she was with her own invention.

Another failure.

Without a word she throws her invention onto the floor, causing it to smash into pieces.

What was the point of wasting so much time into something if it won't get results in time for anything?

"Melissy?" Pony called out to her again, worried about her sudden actions.

Instead of responding directly Melissa just exhaled, exhausted from the day she stood from mud and solemnly say "A bath sounds nice."

Pony peered at her companion, unsettled but regardless she gathered everything before following behind Melissa as they head back to their apartment.

…

There was a rumor that spas have mythical healing capabilities, while lots of people, including Melissa, consider these to be mere folk tale, she had to admit that a hot bath always seem to work some kind of magic on her whenever she takes one. The soothing warm water was cleansing her mind like it was doing her physical body, washing away a day's worth of marks. The water was colored green, a favorite color shared by both roommates, thankfully it's only that way through the contents of a cheap plastic container from a local store.

'Many thanks to the person who invented bath salts, the poor man's spa maker.' Melissa told herself, feeling the mood from before had mostly passed.

The only issue was, there was some moods that can't easily be scrubbed off.

Feelings of incompetence, belittled, ineligible, and inadequate...

Those kinds of emotions are never easy to get rid of because of their persistence, no matter what fancy product one may spread over it.

But like most things in life, they tend to still around longer then one would like and have to be lived with. One thing that was lavish but foreign was the calm almost isolated feeling she was getting, where was Pony? She was usually the first one in for a bath, her being a bit late wasn't uncommon either, but Melissa was practically done and yet not even a peep have been heard.

"Pony?" Melissa curiously called out, 'Where did she run off too? She said she'll only be a minute.'

Her anxiety only grew as she got no response, was she ok, did something happen within the small interval of her going into the bathroom. It must be the work of someone else for this delay considering the situation. What could've happened to her? Was she ok? She needed to be or else what would Melissa do on her own? Forget about the race, was she going to be alone now?

Right as Melissa rose up to go search for her the door swung wide open.

"PONY BOMB!"

_**SPLASH!**_

The powerful wave was truly an effective one, it washed away all her worries…

...and replaced it with an unparalleled mix of anger and annoyance.

Pony in her usual sunshine matter poked her head out of the water, excited to take a nice enjoyable bath with her favorite person in the world. That was until she took a glance at Melissa to see the menacing glare she was giving the poor innocent soul and promptly sank back down into the water for protection. Leaving only her big blues eyes and horn to stick out staring back at the older occupant.

Her adorable eyes once again made it hard to wish ill-harm on her, but that didn't stop the young inventor from finding a way to inflict her wrath upon Pony.

"Time to clean your horns," Melissa malevolently said, grabbing the closet object she could. She swipes at the air, making many brushing motions with her hand.

Pony popped her mouth out of the water to plea "Noooo~!"

But no such mercy was given…..at least that would be the case if this was a horror story starring a psychopath, luckily the more calm minded Melissa settled for a bit of horn teasing. The usual tickling, scratching, rubbing, and poking to get her wilded up a bit.

Winding down from all the excitement the duo went back to a more appropriate bathtub activity, such as Melissa washing Pony's hair. As the older blonde was making sure she was getting every last strand clean, Pony was humming a happy tune.

Eventually Melissa dropped a question "What took you so long? I was just about to come out before you jumped in."

As soon as the question dropped Melissa could feel the smaller blonde fidgeting in place, she squirmed her head out of Melissa's hands so she could turn towards her. What could she be planning?

Finally Pony raised her hands from the water, "I wanted to surprise you, because I made this." she said.

Laying across her hands were a pair of goggles, their lenses were tinted green, the sides were marked with dots each with a number above them, and printed on top of them were the letters 'MP'.

Melissa took it into her hands and examined it thoroughly. It was pretty well made, especially for someone with as little mechanical building experience as Pony. Who knew she was some kind of wizz genius at this.

"They're scanning goggles, it's suppose to help you calculate the wind, their pattern, and other on the spot math stuff." Pony explained to her.

While at first this brought utter surprise and even a bit of internal praise from Melissa, it soon dropped a heavy load of envy in her stomach.

Even Pony was able to make decent equipment.

Right as she was about to go on about the sense of fleeting relevancy she looked at the bottom of the goggles, and there's it was that she saw a familiar looking symbol. A girl wearing Red Goggles with pink dreadlocks and under it all were colorful bold letters that formed the initials 'MEI'.

While at first when she heard of the company name Mei gave her shop she found it a bit excessive, but now she realized Mei was a propaganda genius.

Pony would already tell, judging from Melissa's deadpan face as she looked at the label, where her attention was going. She quickly explained "Mei helped me adding in all the advanced options, but I learned how to put together the bases off of hearing you talk about it."

"You were actually listening to me?" Melissa said, 'She was always interested in being with me as I work but I thought it was because she loved the spectacle of it, never would've guessed she was actually picking up the skill.'

Pony nodded her head as she states, "You have always been helping me, ever since we first met, so I wanted to make something special for you. I planned to have it done by your birthday but it ended up taking a bit longer."

'My birthday!' Melissa though, shocked as she immediately realize the length this was in production for, "My birthday was months ago, if you were having that much trouble why didn't you get help earlier?"

While she gets the determination to make something special for someone they look up to, it would've been better just to have gotten help. That way she would've completed it on schedule and they could've been able to use it for all the race they had since then. It just seemed odd to her to go so far.

"I know it would've been better if I got it sooner, we must've missed like…I don't know 9 races of being able to use it," Pony says, "But that's ok, I didn't make this just to win races, we have

endless races ahead of us to win one. I just wanted this to mean something and as long as I have you I'm sure it'll be amazing."

It was a spectacle, seeing how somehow through all the dark clouds adolescents may bring, a single ray of light piercing through would result in a much brighter day. Such a fascinating experience going through a human epiphany.

For a single moment, hundreds of memories Melissa spent with her father filled her mind. She remembered feeling of true achievement, through actual dedication to something then just rushing it to get it ready for a race before tossing away the failure for the next half-assed product. She began creating equipment as a hobby for a reason.

A soft smile appeared on her face, "Thank you for this, though I think you should have it."

Pony tilted her head in confusion, "Why? Do you not like it?"

"No, I just think you deserve to wear it more." Melissa told her as she tries placing it back on Pony's head, "You seemed to have kept something I've lost."

While Pony allowed Melissa to place the goggles back on her head, a small pout formed on her face. That was when an idea hit her, she suggested, "How about you wear the one I made, and then you can make one I'll wear! That way we'll both be wearing something the other made."

Melissa thought about it, they did have a few hours left before the race and they definitely have enough scrap from all the failed inventions in their room.

"I think I can pull something like that off, that we can both go to race with one." Melissa replied "Though I'm not sure how varied I can make the features, I'm a bit rusty with quality work."

This was going to be the first thing in a while she made that was being created more for fun then just objectively.

"Don't worry, I'm sure whatever you build will be glowing with creativity! You're inventions are always shining with your personality!" Pony cheered, "And that's why I love you Melissy!"

…

"L-love!" Melissa repeated, she wasn't sure if it was the comment or the fact that she was in the bath for too long that made her cheek blush bright red.

Pony nods in joy before moving in for a big hug, her head pressed against the older blonde's chest as she squeezed tightly. This one wasn't her usual overly cheerful or friendly grips, but an embrace filled with nothing but one's affection and passion for a significant other.

It was...a comforting experience.

While it took some time for Melissa to come to terms to what was confessed to her, she decided to take a page out of Pony's book and realize she doesn't have to rush out an answer. She was going to take her time and give her a proper response that expresses her emotions. Till then, a little affection back won't hurt.

Returning the hug Melissa accepted Pony's advance wholeheartedly, planting a kiss on her forehead as she whispers, "I love you too."

_**END**_


End file.
